The mullahs are celebrating a headscarf festival in Iran today.
Authorities have declared July 12 Hijab and Chastity Day this year to honor, celebrate and promote the compulsory headscarf that women are required to wear by law. However, many courageous Iranian women are demonstrating against this and taking to the streets without a headscarf!
That’s courageous, because: It’s a punishment!
“I believe this is a peaceful women’s revolution against the headscarf requirement. Our goal is to show solidarity against the fundamental concept of compulsory hijab as one of the pillars of a religious dictatorship. We believe that we will get closer to freedom if we break every pillar of this apartheid government,” Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad (45) told BILD.
“I call on all human rights organizations to condemn the headscarf requirement in Iran. I call on the global feminist movements to show their solidarity with our fight against gender apartheid.”
Alinejad organizes this campaign “No2Hijab” from exile. She has been fighting against the headscarf requirement for years.
Masih Alinejad is one of the best-known Iranian human rights activists. She was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (61) described non-compliance with the hijab rules as “organized promotion of (moral) corruption in Islamic society” and ordered all state agencies to implement a 2005 law on “chastity and hijab” drafted by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution ‘ to be strictly implemented.
But the courageous Iranian women take to the streets without a headscarf and accept serious consequences.
“We take off our headscarves and hope that everyone will join us. Forcing women to wear hijab is not part of Iranian culture. It is the culture of the Taliban, ISIS and the Islamic Republic. Enough is enough,” says a woman with her headscarf pulled down in a video.
Many women are said to have received threats from the security forces and were asked not to take part in the anti-headscarf campaign, Alinejad told BILD.
In recent weeks, authorities have also closed some shops, such as cafes and restaurants, arresting their female patrons for “inappropriate hijabs” and arresting women tourists for disobeying the hijab requirement.
“No one can force me to put on a headscarf”
In Berlin, too, some Iranian women demonstrated at the Iranian embassy against compulsory headscarves and oppression, some even went into the embassy building.
Jasmin Maleki and Mona Taheri demonstrated today in the embassy in Berlin
“I went to the consulate to fight for my personal rights, but also for the rights of my compatriots. Nobody can force me to put on a headscarf or tell me how to dress,” says Jasmin Maleki (31) to BILD.
The mullahs also launched a full-scale campaign this year against women, whom they describe as “bad hijab”. In addition to the moral police crackdown on the streets, some officials have ordered additional measures, including urging government agencies, banks and public transport companies to ban women with “bad hijab” from working.
“Every year in Iran, millions of women are harassed, warned and arrested for not being ‘properly veiled.’ I receive harrowing reports of state-sponsored abuse from these women. Just now the mother of an Iranian protester who was murdered during a protest in Iran has been arrested for supporting our ‘No2Hijab’ campaign,” Alinejad told BILD.
Filmmakers Mohammed Rassulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad and director Jafar Panahi were also arrested within a few days.
